New Scars
by Inoki-92
Summary: Stories are organic, they grow with the times and leave their scars on the reader, so i will not summarise my story, as i do not know what is going to happen, only that you will never forget. scars never fade.
1. Chapter 1

Zuko draped his arms over the side of the small boat, his fingers laced through the spirals of water below and he finally felt alone, for the first time since the end of his travels with the Avatar.

But he was never alone, not really.

In the distance he could just about make out the dark bulk of one of his countless guard ships that Iroh had insisted he needed for his protection.

"You have responsibilities now, Lord Zuko, you are no longer the carefree teenager that I will allow to run around the Earth Kingdom with his friends." Iroh's voice rang in his head like a bell tolling his quite frankly menial future. He took every opportunity to come out here, on the ocean or in the middle of the forest, isolated from "high society" and the people and the pressures.

It was coming up to the 1st anniversary of the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai, or as it had come to been known Spirit Day (Sokka had wanted to call it The-Day-Of-The-Valiant-Boomerang, but The Council had been much objected.)

The World had changed so much in a year, The refugees had slowly returned to their homelands in their hundreds of thousands. There was now a council who effectively governed the shaky new world. The Fire Nation itself had been divided into Provinces, therefore limiting any one element of power, namely the Fire Lord, from becoming too strong and though Zuko was still in control of the Nation as a whole, he was simply a figurehead, he passed all the laws and represented the Fire Nations interests at Council meetings, he was smothered, pampered and bored.

He longed for his old adventures.

"Zuko, rub some more oil in, I think I'm tanning weird, Am I tanning strangely?"

"No. You're bronzing."

The one thorn he could not escape, Mai. She insisted that she come with him on these trips. He sat up and rubbed more palm oil into her shoulders, she had recently discovered the latest fashion to come out of the Earth Kingdom, tans. She would spend hours upon hours lying on the ground, servants fanning her whilst she groaned and complained and moaned and bitched and drove Zuko crazy. Though he did like her darkened skin.

Love?

Sure he'd loved her, he'd loved her with all his soul and she loved the prince and the prince loved her, but Zuko wasn't sure he even wanted to be Fire Lord any more, he wanted the life of an ordinary 17 year old boy, worrying about girls and spots and his hair and who's fucking who. Not whether or not to place the Governor of the Far East Region on the same table as General Giing, or how exactly to pay for the war-debts his father had incurred, or for that matter how he was going to try to round up the old warlords and trail them fairly by the Council.

And so there he sat, the teenager in charge of the most ruthless men in the World, and contemplated throwing his girlfriend into the swirling surf.

* * * *

"Zuko!!" It was Ty-Lee, his one lasting connection to his previous life, she ran at him and threw her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around his waist, driving him backwards and sent him crashing to the floor, he didn't mind. Mai gave the two friends a sideways glance but she didn't care, she never cared any more, her legs had bad sunburn and she was being carted off to her room to have Vera plant rubbed into them for the rest of the day.

Ty-Lee was probably his closest friend, now. She never really had much to do at Kyoshi Island and Zuko was happy that she took time out to visit him. After she untangled herself from him they lay on the grass and she spoke about Suki and Sokka and Katara and Aang, Zuko's stomach tightened at the mention of his friends names.

She lay on her stomach, her Kyoshi uniform discarded, she wore a white tunic and shorts though she still wore the make-up and headdress."They're all very excited to be returning to the Fire Palace after this long year, especially Katara, I can't believe you two haven't talked since Spirit Day."

Zuko thought for a second, he hadn't really thought about it before, he'd kept contact with Aang and Sokka, everyone in fact, he even wrote Azula letters every once in a while. He'd sat down numerous times to write to Katara but he never knew what to write. Everything he put down seemed wrong and then after a while he just gave up. Though he never gave up thinking about her, in fact she was always running though his mind, though her face was blurred by the effects of time, he still remembered her eyes, and her smile and -

"Your Highness, you're blushing." Zuko's hand rushed to his cheek, he did feel a bit hot.

"It's hot out here."

She laughed, "Whatever you say, don't worry, I wont tell Mai, I doubt she'd be able to peel herself off the fruit tarts long enough to listen anyway." Zuko laughed and felt slightly guilty for laughing at Mai.

She laughed again. "Maybe we should try, she's getting fatter by the day." Zuko laughed again, though this time he definitely felt guilty.

"Well, I wouldn't call her fat..."

"You've got to be kidding, she looks like someone took old Mai and rolled her in a large brown mat with holes for her arms and legs, though her boobs have definitely gotten bigger."

Zuko laughed again as Ty-Lee did her best impression of fat Mai, stomping around like a wrestler and he wondered what had come between the two friends. But none of that mattered any more, he felt ordinary around Ty-Lee and that was all he wanted.

Later that night, as Mai slept in the bed beside him he lay awake, too nervous about the guests arriving tomorrow to sleep, but that wasn't all, recently he'd been having dreams, not nightmares, not any thing really, he would just wake up in the middle of the night, his hands smoking, burning holes in the sheets and he would imagine that someone was in his room, a small girl, with silver hair and fiery eyes, every now and again he'd blink and she would appear, just out of sight, but he knew she was there.

And, on a sail boat steadily approaching the Fire Nation, a 15 year old girl sat up in bed, dripping in water, stirred from her slumber and peered into the darkness, looking for the little child with the silvery hair who had begun to haunt her nights.


	2. Chapter 2

The Fire Nation, she'd forgotten how hot it was.

Katara stepped off the boat and onto dry land for the first time in 3 days. Her backpack was taken off her by a bowing servant and she looked around at the Fire Nation for the 1st time in a year. She'd forgotten how beautiful it was, white decking ran around the front of the quiet seaside town, blood red valenti-flowers hung from wooden posts that strung candled lanterns above her head and off and around and down to the honey-lion drawn carriage that waited for her.

She felt embarrassed that all this pomp had been arranged for her and made a mental note to be extra kind to her maids when she got to the palace, she wondered if Sokka and Suki had arrived from Kyoshi Island yet, and her stomach tightened when she thought of Aang.

She hadn't seen Aang for nearly a month now, she had been so busy with preparing to take over from her Father as an ambassador on the Council that she had no time for friends, she'd had little time for anything now days. There was always meetings and arrangements and decisions and she is just a 15 year old girl, a 15 year old princess, a 15 year old princess who's father has to take control of the Navy and who has left his 15 year old daughter in charge of an entire tribe of people, all depending on her, all relying on her.

It was like the job she was born to do.

But she was still just a girl, what did she know of world politics and foreign policies. Which was why, as she walked along the wooden boards towards her awaiting ride, she wondered again and again why the fuck was she here. Sure, she could defeat armies and bring peace to the world, but here, now, faced with the ornate carriage and the handsome footmen and the patient honey-lion, her stomach did flips and she became acutely aware of how loud her footsteps were and that her hands looked stupid swinging by her sides. As all the servants looked at her she screamed inside her head and tried to look anywhere but at them.

Great start, Katara, You're going to be an amazing ambassador.

The carriage ride to the castle was slow, the streets were crowded with thousands of people, all revelling in the lead up to Spirit Day, the streets were lined with the colours of the Fire Nation, golds and reds and deep, burning browns. Every now and again she would glimpse the blues of her home nation or the greens of the Earth Kingdom. Once or twice she saw someone who had dug the Air Nomad flag out of whatever dusty home it had had for the last hundred years, or painted a crude resemblance of the symbol for Air on a sheet, and hung it from their window or pinned it to the wall with the words 'Never Forget' written below.

There were stalls selling little figurines of Aang and Zuko and her and Toph and Sokka. She remembered the time Sokka sent her small stone dolls that Toph had carved of themselves for her 15th birthday, "_Sorry I can't be there, I love you, my little heroine." _His note went with her wherever she went, along with the small figurines of the Gaang, she placed them on her bedside table, like small stone guardian angels and gazed at them before she fell asleep.

She still found it strange after all this time that she was revered world over for saving the life of the Fire Lord, saving the life of Zuko. It had taken her weeks to be able to think about that day without crying and she could never quite bring herself to write to Zuko, once she wrote an entire letter but it ended up buried deep in the ice, she told herself over and over that she had left it too long for them to begin talking again but she knew there was something different about her and Zuko's friendship that couldn't be satisfied though mere letters.

This was not the Fire Nation she remembered, with the lights and the music that spilled from the taverns, you could almost forget that this country had destroyed half the world, but then you'd glimpse the soldier who had had his legs blown off by white lotus offensive or the orphaned Earth Kingdom children being herded around, tied together by string to ensure they didn't run off and Katara would feel their sadness and their little hearts torn in two.

That was the Fire Nation she remembered.

The coachman swung down from the top of the carriage and poked his head in through the curtain."My Lady, the streets have become impossible, I'm afraid we'll have to take in on foot from now on."

Katara smiled, the man was obviously worried as to what her reaction would be"Sure." Katara had hoped he would say that, she longed to be out there with strangers again, on her own small adventure, like the ones she missed so very much. Back when she was Katara.

The coachman smiled, obviously relieved and bundled Katara out of the carriage and into the bustling street, the smells and sounds of festivalia enveloped her. She breathed deep and deeper and she felt the euphoria in the people surround her, she felt their pulses quicken and their hearts race and felt their happiness, to be alive and loving, to be free and loved. They were happy.

A small Fire Nation child tugged on Katara's hem,wiping it's nose on it's sleeve. "Ladee, ladee, you looks like my dolly, are you my dolly ladee?" The dark haired girl thrust a miniature Katara under her nose, sniffling again.

Katara gazed into the painted blue blobs that she supposed were her eyes."Oh, yes, yes I am."

The child spun around and shouted back to her friends, who were gazing expectantly at Katara, "Told you so, Ling-Ling, you owe me a stick of Fire-gum."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeh-huh"

The two children started to chase each other round and around a fruit stall as their friends shouted and jeered, a mass of light skin and black hair and a streak of silver.

What?

She was here. But, she couldn't, she just couldn't be here. She didn't exist, not really, she was a dream, a beautiful nightmare, a figment of a suppressed imagination, but still the image of the long silver hair and the golden eyes and the skin that shimmered and shined like velvet scales in the light of a dying fire, burned into her eyes and she could not forget the look of loss and longing in the tiny girls fiery orbs.

"Miss Katara, we need to move, you're being noticed."

"Yes, of course." She swayed and steadied herself, "I thought, I, nothing."

She turned around and made her way towards the looming gates of the Fire Palace.


End file.
